Who likes to exercise? I have a feeling there aren’t many hands going up around cyber space. Go figure.

However, although we may not like it, exercise is necessary if we want to stay toned, healthy, and strong, right? Right?

Same goes with our writing. Writing exercises may not be fun, but they help us. So here are three things you can do at any given time to tone and strengthen your writing talent.

1. People Watch. Head to your local coffee shop, park or shopping mall. Pick out a few select people (don’t be obvious about it) and write about them. Make up a short story, using them as the main characters. Who are they? What difficulties are they facing? Where are they going? Do they have kids? Have they lost their jobs? Their minds? Bet you can come up with all sorts of scenarios.

2. Extra! Extra! Read all about it! Open your daily newspaper and find a headline. Now, without reading the story, make up your own.

3. Head to the Movies. Choose a scene (maybe the ending) from your favorite movie, then rewrite it. See how much more creative your scene is than the actual one that made it into the script.

I like to people listen, it’s like people watching only with your ears. At restaurants, I like to eavesdrop on people sitting around me. Sometimes I might get embarrassed but you would be surprised at all the different story ideas you can come up with from their conversations. Ans yes, I know we shouldn’t eavesdrop.